


No Bull

by Wolkemesser



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: F/F, Gruulfriends - Freeform, MTG, Ravnica, war of the spark spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-02-29 16:59:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18782386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolkemesser/pseuds/Wolkemesser
Summary: A Gruulfriends fanfic written to address the aftermath of War of the SparkInspired by @DrAntlers on Tumblr





	1. Chapter 1

Nissa grunted irritably as she pried another chunk of rock off the prone form of Vitu-gazi. It would have been much more efficient to re-vitalize the elemental herself, and have it clear the rubble off its own body, but there were dozens of selesnyans  working alongside her, and from the sidelong glances they were giving Nissa, she surmised they had not forgiven her for what Bolas’ god-eternals had done to their beloved tree.

 

Nissa sighed. She understood how they felt. It didn’t make the situation any less frustrating. There was an obvious solution, she just couldn’t _do_ it.

The plaza was full of ravnicans from every guild, clearing out the debris and re-building the shattered structures that the eternals had razed. Gruul kronches and Orzhov thrulls worked side-by-side to haul away wagons of rubble. Rakdos and Golgari volunteers had brought in heaps of food, and were preparing meals for wounded and the workers alike under the direction of a well-dressed imp. Boros angels and Dimir spies surveyed the buildings, looking for potential dangers to the salvage crews.

 

And among all the native citizens, planeswalkers lent their myriad talents to the city’s recovery. 

 

“Heads up!”

 

Nissa turned to see two streams of flame light up yet another neatly-stacked heap of eternals. Samut was still working diligently at gathering her fallen comrades for respectful disposal, with Chandra and Jaya helping her to carry and immolate the metal-plated warriors. 

 

Chandra turned and caught Nissa’s eye from halfway across the plaza. Nissa turned away quickly, blushing.

 

_I should go and talk to her_ , Nissa thought. _I should…_ she took a step toward across the plaza and stopped short, grasping for words in her mind.

 

_What are you supposed to say to someone after ‘I love you?’ What is there to say?_

So she turned and carried her chunk of rubble determinedly to the other side of the plaza. Angrath, the minotaur with the burning chains, and Arlinn Kord, the older human woman who had been a wolf for the better part of Bolas’ invasion, were working together to unearth the remains of the chambers of the Guildpact. Jace shifted sadly through the remains of his library a few feet away. Niv Mizzet lay sprawled nearby, in conversation with Teferi, one of the new gatewatch members. The dragon didn’t seem like the merry type, but whatever Teferi had just said made Niv-Mizzet chuckle.

 

“LESS TALKING, MORE ELBOW GREASE, WINDBAGS!” 

 

Angrath stalked past the dragon and the time-mage, hauling a massive slab of stone and metal with his chains. Arlinn walked alongside him, another large rock cradled in her arms.  “ARE YOU JUST GONNA LET US OLD-TIMERS MOVE ALL THIS ROCK??”

 

Niv-Mizzet sniffed. “I am millennia-old, little planeswalker. Your years pale in comparison to my own.”

 

“BAH! DID YOUR YEARS LEAVE YOU USELESS AS WELL AS BORING?”

 

Teferi shrugged “Well, I’ve only got the one millennia under my belt, so I guess that makes me a spring chicken.” He waved his staff and sped up several of the Azorius and Izzet constructs that were sifting through the rubble. This seemed to shame Niv-Mizzet at least a degree, and he started scooping up rocks. 

 

“HARD WORK WILL KEEP YOU YOUNG, DRAGON!” Angrath laughed as he hauled his own burden to the edge of the plaza and loaded it onto a wagon. Nissa threw her boulder right behind his, and the minotaur gave her an approving nod.

 

“Now THAT’S the way we get work done!” He offered Nissa a rough handshake.

 

“You…you certainly don’t have any trouble letting everyone know what’s on your mind,” Nissa observed.

 

“MUCH easier to get the job done that way, don’t you think?” Even when he wasn’t roaring, Angrath roared. “I’ve been watching you all move stones off that tree all day. You ought to TELL them to let YOU take care of it.”

 

“I thought of just doing that.” Nissa walked with Angrath back toward the chamber building. “But that tree…it’s important to them. Sacred…I think I need to respect their feelings on the matter.”

 

Angrath snorted, almost like a laugh, but nodded in agreement. “Feelings, well, there’s a TIME and a PLACE to respect those, and if it’s all the same to them…” he shrugged.

 

“We have time now. In a crisis, I wouldn’t bother asking.”

 

“HAH!” Angrath grinned, and wrapped his chain around another boulder. “An elf of action, huh?”

 

“Yes.” Nissa knelt and lifted a flat slab of stone as tall as she was. “When it comes to, well…just acting.” She looked up at Angrath from under the stone. “How do you do it so easily? Talk with all of them like that, I mean.”

 

Angrath was silent a moment, pursing his lips as best as someone with a bull’s head could purse their lips. 

 

“I’ve seen many worlds, and I suppose I’m lucky to come from one where we speak our minds freely. It’s an honest way to live. When I’m HAPPY, I want to share my JOY. When my daughters make me PROUD, I want them to know how important they are, and how much I CHERISH them. If I have a quarrel with my neighbor, I will tell them directly so that we can quickly put the quarrel to bed.” He laughed, a loud, boisterous sound.

 

Nissa nodded, slowly. “And what about the times when you don’t know if your feelings are welcome? When…when the feelings you have…you don’t know if you can put a voice to them? Isn’t that selfish, to say something badly and hurt the other person?”

 

“It’s all practice.” Angrath looked up, almost pensive. “And sometimes…well, if you aren’t a _little_ selfish in making your feelings known, then they just sit in your belly like a lead weight. You have to say things badly before you get good at saying them well.” He chucked his boulder onto the wagon and sat down on a fallen column. “But you sound like you have something you need to say.”

 

“There…there’s a girl.” Nissa hefted the slab onto the wagon and sat down next to Angrath. “I had…months to say something to her. My…my feelings that is.”

 

“Anger?”

 

“Oh…no, nothing like that.”

 

“Irritation? Did she make a dinosaur stand on your chest?”

 

“I…no, it's…it's…” Nissa was wringing her hands together in her lap. “It’s, um. It’s l…l…”

 

“Love?”

 

Nissa’s ears were burning. “Y…yes.”

 

Angrath nodded. “That’s a tricky one.”

 

“Isn’t it?” Nissa’s voice rose. “You meet this…this person and they make you feel something you’ve never felt your whole life. You can’t even put a finger on it and by the time you do it feels too late to say something, and you start to doubt what it even is you feel, and then you…you just self-destruct emotionally at the first opportunity and storm off and…and…”

 

“Ah.” Angrath laughed, a mercifully discreet one this time. “I wondered why the red one was looking at you so much.”

 

Nissa realized belatedly that she had been staring straight at Chandra from across the Plaza for the past minute. Her hands gripped her knees and she looked straight down at her lap.

 

“Have you told her all that? It might not have been poetry, but it was honest. Honesty beats poetry any day.”

 

“This is…the first time I’ve seen her since I left.”

 

“And how have things been since?”

 

“We had…we had a moment. She said she loved me, and I know that she meant that. With all her heart. I…I could never say it before but I realized that if Bolas’ plan had worked…I would never have had the chance to say it. So I did.”

 

“That’s PERFECT, then!” Angrath raised a hand as if to clap Nissa on the back, then lowered the hand, and raised an eyebrow instead. “Isn’t it?”

 

“I…it felt right, but in the context of our conversation…” Nissa bit her lip, trying to find the right words. “…We had been discussing platonic love right before, so really…she might not have realized what I meant by it, so I can’t really say it was a satisfactory conversation.”

 

“Say it again. Don’t leave any room for doubt.”

 

“But…” Nissa paused, grasping again for words. She looked up, straight at Chandra. “…but what if I’m wrong? What if I’ve been imagining it all in my head and she doesn’t want to be my friend after this?”

 

“It’s the difference between saying how you feel and expecting people to act how you want them.” Angrath dusted off his trousers and stood. “You can do the first without demanding the second. You said you believed her? Believe in yourself a little bit too, huh?” 

 

“I suppose that’s true.” Nissa tore her eyes away from Chandra and smiled. “Thank you. I think that helps.”

 

“You don’t have to do things the way I do them. Not everyone has the chops I’ve got.” Angrath flexed a forearm and grinned. “Tell her in a moment alone, if it suits you. Shout it from the city square if that’s the way you feel about her. But don’t think your feelings don’t matter enough to speak them aloud. That’s no way to live.”

 

And then he was striding off, swinging his arms and cursing up at Niv-Mizzet again.

 

Nissa let out a long breath, and closed her eyes. Her heartbeat was returning to normal. Her face cooling. 

 

_Think what you feel, then say what you feel._

She took in another breath, slowly, filling her lungs.

 

_You love Chandra. More than a friend. More than a teammate.  
_

She opened her eyes.

 

_How will you say it?_

“Hey Nissa!” Chandra was running toward her, vaulting over rubble and cracks in the plaza. Something trailing steam balanced on her upturned palm. Her smile. Her hair. Her fire…Nissa had never thought much of fire, but now she couldn’t imagine life without it.

 

“The zombie-food is actually pretty good!” Chandra plopped down next to Nissa and offered a steaming plate of spicy-sweet-smelling food. “I uh…wasn’t sure what you’d want so I got a little bit of everything.”

 

Nissa looked at the plate, than at the woman in front of her. She took another deep breath.

 

_Here we go_.

 

 

_“No Bull” is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC._


	2. No Bull: Chapter 2

Nissa had been acting strange. Even by Nissa standards.

Strange wasn’t the right word. Nissa acted in ways Chandra didn’t understand sometimes, but it all had to do with the kind of person she was.

Nissa acted...well, like Nissa.

And Chandra liked that. Nissa was calm, and cool, and preferred the quiet most of the time, which hadn’t always felt natural to Chandra, but around her…well, there was something very nice about it.

But she’d seemed agitated the last few days. Avoiding Chandra. Not really talking to anyone while they all made plans to bring order back to the city. She seemed jittery too, like she did when she was having trouble meditating. It was usually a challenge in cities like Ravnica, but this seemed worse, and it had been going on ever since it all ended. Since Gideon. Since Bolas. Since…

Chandra felt her ears burn, and started fanning her face. At her side, Jaya raised an eyebrow.

“You look exhausted. Samut and I can handle the last pile of bodies, go get some water. And something to eat.”

Chandra nodded. Nissa was across the square, hauling rocks with the some of the other planeswalkers who’d cared enough to stick around and help clean up. She had switched into a sleeveless vest for the manual work, and even from a distance the sheen of sweat made Nissa’s muscles glisten.

Chandra felt dizzy. Food. Food and a break. Maybe Nissa wanted something to eat too.

By the time Chandra secured two boxes of mystery Golgari lunch, Nissa had taken a break as well. She was sitting serenely (Chandra wasn’t sure if there was another way for Nissa to sit), almost like she was meditating, but she seemed happy enough to see Chandra, and accepted the food with a smile, before closing her eyes again.

Chandra dug into her own portion of the food, some kind of meat covered in mushrooms and mushroom mash.

“Chandra.” Nissa had opened her eyes again. “I...I was thinking about before.”

“Befuurmph?” Chandra’s voice muffled on the mouthful of roast...something. She swallowed hastily. “Uh, before?”

“Yes.” Nissa closed her eyes and took another deep breath. “About...about ‘I love you.’ I don’t know if you remember but-”

Whatever Nissa said next was drowned out by the long, panicked scream in Chandra’s head. Remember? She’d barely had a waking moment since the invasion where she _hadn’t_ thought about the brief words they’d exchanged. When they’d said the words Chandra had wanted to say to Nissa fro almost a year. Just then the scene was playing over in her head at full volume, so loud she just barely caught the end of what Nissa was saying.

“-but I think...well, I don’t think I want to wait any longer to talk about this.”

“Uh...”

“I-I mean, if you don’t wish to right now-” Nissa was blushing now, and the lovely shade of her cheeks flustered Chandra almost as much as the topic they were broaching. “-That is-” Nissa glanced across the open courtyard. That big, burning minotaur with the chains was flashing huge thumbs-up in their direction for some reason, which was drawing a bit of attention from the workers nearby. “-I _can_ wait, but I would like to talk about it now, if that’s okay.”

“It’s definitely okay!” Chandra blurted it out louder than shed meant to, attracting a few more stares. Nissa was squirming a little bit now, but still looking straight at Chandra. “I mean...I definitely want to. Should we, uh, take a walk?” Nissa would be more comfortable with fewer eyes on her, and less noise. 

“Yes!” Nissa shot up, nearly flipping the food in her lap. “A walk, maybe...get out of everyone else’s way.”

They left their lunch, barely touched, and left the square. There were fewer eyes on the side-streets, though they were by no means alone. Crews of builders and other volunteers walked along every other street, alongside ravnicans just trying to go about their regular lives as best as the aftermath of Bolas’ attack allowed. Nissa grabbed Chandra’s hand and sidled up close to her, a move that Chandra neither expected nor reacted to with any amount of coolness. She swallowed a small yelp and looked straight ahead as her face began to burn.

“Is this alright?” Nissa’s voice came soft but steady. 

It was so alright. Very, very alright. It was more alright than anything that had happened to Chandra in months.

“Uh...yeah.”

“I was given some advice recently, to try being bold; I’m not completely sure that it suits me.”

“You...you’re doing a good job so far.”

Chandra felt a small squeeze from the elf’s hand. How could fingers that slender and elegant be so  _strong_ ? She turned and found Nissa blushing in her direction, a small, lovely smile on her lips.

“Thank you. I want to be more comfortable with it. And for you to be comfortable with it.”

“Um,”

“Because I love you.”

Then the screaming was back in Chandra’s head, though she did her level best to keep listening  as Nissa spoke . 

“I...wish I could put it into words. I’ve been trying to for a long time now, since I met you. I thought I was grateful at first, and I was. You helped me save my home and you’ve been so...so warm ever since. I can’t tell you how happy it made me to have you in my life, before I even really knew you. I thought I just wanted to protect you, like a comrade should want to protect another, and when you took me to your own world, it felt right to be with you through all the challenges there. I knew...I knew I loved you, and that I wanted you to know I loved you, but not that I _loved_ you. Does…does that make sense?”

“I guess...” Chandra bit her lip. “I mean, I never thought what I felt for you was anything other than... _love_ love, but I understand the difference.”

Nissa nodded. “ Right, we talked about this on Amonkhet, though I think we were both a little cryptic about it.  And then...”

Nissa’s ears were drooping in a way that Chandra would have found adorable, if she  had n’t look ed like she was about to cry. A few passersby were glancing at them, and Chandra returned their stares until they looked away.

“Somewhere quieter?”

“...yes. Yes, please.”

They found a small courtyard with a gurgling fountain inscribed with  the small sigils for each of the guilds, and enough space around it for them to pace. They did two laps before Nissa spoke again.

“When we left Amonkhet...I was so scared.” Her fingers were still entwined with Chandra’s. “I’d let myself get overconfident and...and you almost died.”

“Nissa...that wasn’t your fault. That was...that was on me. On all of us.”

“I know that. I know that _now_ , I mean. I’m realizing a lot of things later than I would have liked.” Nissa stopped walking, and took Chandra’s other hand. “But that’s what I thought then, just like I thought I wasn’t...that I wasn’t...” She broke off, and put a gloved hand to her mouth.

“I love you.” Chandra said it without thinking, her usual mode of delivery for anything that should be said carefully. “Um, even then. Since Innistrad, actually. _Love_ love.”

“I knew.” Nissa smiled at Chandra, and her ears perked up, just slightly. “And I knew we were a distraction to each other, but I didn’t say anything back then. But then, after we got to Dominaria, I realized that we were going to get ourselves killed. I thought...I thought, ‘it’s hard enough to keep ourselves alive, how will Chandra survive if she’s thinking of me all the time?’”

“Oh.” Chandra looked at the ground. What could she say to that? They had all signed on for danger when they took their oaths. It wasn’t like she could honestly tell Nissa that they would never have to worry for each other’s lives…

“I feel...safer with you around,” Chandra said eventually. “For what it’s worth.” She took a half-step toward Nissa. “When I’ve lost control, when I feel helpless...you’ve never made me feel less than sheltered and loved. Not...not just when we’ve got someone to fight; When I’m with you...when I’m with you it doesn’t matter that the world is harsh, because someone as gentle as you can still exist.”

A  bit of steam rose in front of her eyes. She was crying. Nissa lay a hand on Chandra’s arm and guided her down to sit on the edge of the fountain. Their fingers were still wrapped together. 

“I-I do a lot of rash things, and my self-control isn’t the best, but I’m working on it all the time. I think I might have been...I might have been too forward, and I know that it’s important for you to have space, so I shouldn’t have-”

“No!” Nissa looked startled at herself for the exclamation; almost as startled as Chandra felt. “No, please don’t ever apologize for how you feel. You’ve made me feel loved. Through all the madness and horrors we’ve seen...well, despite it all, life makes sense when you’re with me. I feel like my thoughts are clearer, like you know me in a way that no one has. Not my family or my friends. I know you’ve understood how I felt, and...and I want you to know I’ve never felt that you too forward. I knew you would respect my decision no matter what, and that’s such a rare thing.” She moved closer. Their knees were touching. “But...but I was worried...I _am_ still worried, that if you’re thinking of me as much as I think of you, that you’ll be distracted.”

“I can’t help it, you’re so distracting.” Chandra stared into Nissa’s eyes a moment, then quickly looked down. Her face must look all red and ridiculous, for how hot it felt. “But...but really...I’ve never felt as focused as I do since I met you. I don’t think about how much I love you _all_ the time, just...a reasonably large amount of time.”

N issa worked her fingers free, and for a moment Chandra thought she’d said something wrong. Then Nissa’s hands were lifting Chandra’s chin, and her lips pressed gently against Chandra’s mouth.

The screaming this time was droned out by the sound of a thousand fireworks, louder than the biggest festivals  on any world . Nissa’s lips were cool and sweet and just a bit like soil, and when she pulled back, Chandra had to restrain herself from lunging after for another taste.

“I...I hope that’s alright.” Nissa let her hands fall from Chandra’s chin to her shoulders. “I want you to know I’m serious about you, but if we’re not there yet-”

The rest of Nissa’s words lost themselves in Chandra’s  return  kiss.  Self control was overrated, anyways.  Much better were the strands of Nissa’s hair under her fingers. The closeness of her smell. Nissa’s strong arms closing around Chandra’s waist and  nearly lifted her up from where she sat . This time when they pulled apart, Chandra was too dizzy to consider lunging in for a third kiss.

“B-bold, huh?” Chandra was surprised she had the breath left in her to say anything.

“I’m trying. Is it alright?”

“You have no idea how alright this is. If...if you’re alright with it, I mean. I don’t want you to worry. You know, if life takes us apart for a while.”

Nissa kissed her again, this time on Chandra’s brow, just below her goggles.  “I don’t want to leave you again. I want you to be safe and happy and with me so I can make sure you stay that way. But I know that’s not the life we live. We can’t run from the multiverse, and neither of us would if we could. Still, I love you more than anything, and if worrying over your safety is the price of that love, I’ll gladly pay it.”

Chandra felt dizzy, breathless.  “ So are we...are we trying this?”

Nissa’s smile was sly this time. “‘this’...do you mean, a relationship? As more than friends? As lovers?”

Chandra nodded.  She couldn’t see much of anything besides those soft green eyes . “Uh-huh.”

“Good.” Nissa lay her head against Chandra’s shoulder, and placed her hand back in Chandra’s. “Because I can’t think of anything I’d like more.”

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
